Monday, October 22, 2012

On Saturday, a friend and I visited French General in Los Angeles to attend a book signing by Sibella Court. This was a night of many firsts and I'm excited to share my adventure with you!

This is the welcoming front door of French General. This charming and wonderful shop is owned by Kaari Meng, and she is one of the sweetest persons you will ever meet. She is a woman of many talents and they include workshop instructor, jewelry designer for Anthropologie, and author of several books.

Hello Friends!

Once you enter the store, you enter a world full of magique.

I felt like my bonne fée (fairy godmother) had made my every wish come true! Come along with me and I'll take you on a tour of this juicy (Molly, Kaari's sister, made an impression on me!) and delicious shop.

I found a beautiful embroidered heart pillow for one of Pam Garrison's classes.

And a beautiful wedding cake topper with two cute birds adorning it

Everywhere you look there are vintage treasures, one of a kind notions, and more inspiration than I thought possible!

Kaari's line of fabric that she designed for Moda

A collection of Santos

Kaari's dad was our friendly bartender for the evening. We got to try Lillet and it was delicious!

I could spend days perusing this wall. Each jar is full of beads, findings, trinkets and baubles for creating one of a kind jewelry and treasures.

These adorable animals were handmade by Evelyn Neily. She creates magic with her needle felting skills and will be returning to French General on December 15 to teach a class in this wonderful art form.

Here I am with Kaari Meng and my friend, Jeanine Stowe Weiss. I've taken one of Kaari's classes at the first "Creative Connection" event hosted by Jo Packham in 2010, and it was so nice to see Kaari again. She is such an artful woman and I admire her grace, attention to detail and her desire to help women create beautiful things. On the right is Jeanine and this event was the first time that Jeanine and I ever met each other! We've been friends on Facebook for some time, at least 6 months or more, but our paths hadn't crossed yet. She's been a wonderful cheerleader for me on those days that just weren't going my way. On a whim I asked her if she would go to this event with me and I was so happy when she said yes! Sometimes we're lucky enough to come across wonderful people whose paths are similar to our own and I'm so thankful that Jeanine and I have become friends.

Sibella Court is a lovely, accomplished and very creative soul from Australia and she has the most charming Australian accent. She is a stylist, creative director, author and collector of beautiful things. Sibella talked about her inspiration for writing her book, Bowerbird: Creating Beautiful Interiors with the Things You Collect. While she was talking, I had a profound moment where I realized I'm not a hoarder, I'm a lovely Bowerbird. I simply need to arrange my collections better to reveal their beauty and unique charms.

After talking about her collections and her travels, Sibella signed our books for us. Here she is with Evelyn Neily.

Sibella's book is truly beautiful. The cover is gorgeous, but the binding is to die for. The pages are stitched into the book in traditional signatures. As a student of the book arts, I am impressed and bedazzled by the attention to detail in every aspect of this delightful and magnificent book. The images inside are inspiring and intoxicating. I can't wait to start arranging my collections to better show off their beauty!

Sibella told us about the unique habits of the male bower bird. As a lover of nature, I'm fascinated by these crazy birds! From PBS: "Instead of using just showy plumes or a romantic melody to attract a mate, the pigeon-sized bower bird constructs an elaborate structure — a bower — on the forest floor from twigs, leaves, and moss. It then decorates the bower with colorful baubles, from feathers and pebbles to berries and shells. Each builds its own shape of bower and prefers a different decorating scheme. A few, for instance, surround their bowers with carefully planted lawns of moss. Others have been known to steal shiny coins, spoons, bits of aluminum foil — even a glass eye — in an effort to create the perfect romantic mood. Some, like the iridescent blue Satin bower bird, the star of Bower Bird Blues, even “paint” the walls of their structures with chewed berries or charcoal. For the male Satin, which builds a U-shaped bower from parallel walls of twigs, the favored color is blue. To decorate its “avenue,” as scientists call it, he collects blue feathers, berries, shells, and flowers. While some of these decorations are found in the forest, others are stolen from the bowers of other males; young males, in particular, are prone to this petty thievery. However obtained, the precious knickknacks are then scattered around the bower. The male then waits, passing time by constantly fine-tuning his structure and rearranging the decorations."

Check out Sibella Court's book, "Bowerbird: Creating Beautiful Interiors with the Things You Collect" to learn more about decorating your home with your treasures and collections. And, you have to go to French General! Whether you go there for a class or to peruse Kaari's beautiful treasures, you will leave inspired to create a masterpiece!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

In May 2011, I was introduced to Michelle Geller at Kim Caldwell's Moulin Rouge event. We didn't really get a chance to talk so I was happy to learn that she was a part of the Altered Book Round Robin hosted by Julie Weller that I've been participating in since January. Through Facebook and Instagram I've come to feel like I know Michelle. That's the magic of social media!When Michelle announced that sign-ups were open for Handmade U I had to check it out. This special September 2012 event is a weekend art retreat with a focus on mixed-media art journaling. Michelle's friend, Rachel Velder McGough, hosts a fabulous weekend of Workshops and Make-and-Takes that bring together women from all over the world to Omaha, NE to spend an unforgettable weekend making art and friendships! This 3rd Semester event will feature artists Hope Karney Wallace and Liesel Lund as instructors, as well as Michelle Geller and Shelley Overholt as make and take teachers!

Although I'm not able to attend Handmade U this time, I just had to be a part of the fun so I made an Art Journal Workshop Apron for Rachel to give away at this special event. I created an embroidered Handmade U logo on linen, added on some whimsical ruffles and finished it off with heart shaped trim. Most of the fabric is from the cheery Pom Pom De Paris collection, by Kaari Meng from French General. One of my favorite details on this apron is a piece of fabric imported from England that features a lady with a basket and the caption says "For Your Pleasure Madam". So random!

I'm really happy with the way this apron turned out and I just might have to make some more along the same lines! I can't get enough of this French General fabric. Check out my Etsy shop to see more of my handmade workshop aprons. I'd love to hear what you think about this design, let me know in the comments!

Are you ready to take your creativity to the next level? Check out the Handmade U - Fall 2012 (3rd semester) event page to learn more about this amazing event that begins on September 20-22 in Omaha, NE . Sign up today, spaces are filling up fast!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

I'm jumping right into the middle of the Pinterest Fray today! Part rant, part advice column and part Page Six, just for you!

The fever over Pinterest is getting hotter each and every day. Today I saw something online from an artist I know who found her beautiful creation on someones Pinterest board with no artist attribution. In fact, there was no description whatsoever. Not even a period, which I sometimes see being used. Being properly upset that her name is not attached to her hard work, this artist left the pinner a helpful lil note. I can see both sides of this, maybe because I'm a Libra or maybe just cuz I'm freaky that way. From the pinners perspective, they found an image online that they thought was beautiful and they pinned it. Perhaps they found it on Tumblr, a web site that is notorious for having millions of images of artists work with no mention of who created it or how someone could find it if they wanted to buy it. However the Pinterest user found this beautiful image, they loved it so much that they pinned it to say, "This reminds me of my style and what I love".

I'm going out on a limb here and will estimate that of all of the 4 million daily unique visitors (Each person/user/visitor counts as one visitor, even if they go on the site, log off and then come back again in the same 24 hour period) only a small percentage of users are people who can merely look at a handcrafted item and then turn around and create a knock off. And of those people, even fewer will list it for sale and make a profit off of it. For that, we can count on a couple big-box retailers who shall remain nameless, who consistently knock off artists, and provide a lower quality product, made in a country that isn't the USA, at a cheaper price.

The reality is that there are an infinite number of people who admire handcrafted items but feel like they aren't creative enough to make it themselves. These same people are more than willing to shell out more than we are charging so that they can adorn themselves with our handmade treasures. Case in point? The wife of my son's soccer coach. During my son's last soccer tournament, from a distance, it appeared that she was wearing a beautiful necklace that my friend Sally Jean Alexander might make and I had to check it out. I asked Mrs Coach if she made it and she said she couldn't if she tried! Right away, I noticed that the quality was not the same as Sally Jean's so I asked Mrs Coach where she got it. Turns out there's a multilevel marketing company who is outsourcing the labor to make this jewelry offshore and then the party hostesses come to your home, a la Tupperware Party style, and do a home shopping party. But guess what? The coaches wife didn't know that this wasn't an original piece, handmade by one of the many talented soldering artists that I know. All she knew was that it was sparkly, she'd never seen anything like it before and she told me that frankly she would have paid twice as much to own it. She felt like she practically stole it!

The world of arts and crafts feels rather small sometimes. We see each other at art retreats, our friends on Facebook all seem to know each other and we pin each others pins on Pinterest. So, when someone knocks off another artists work, it seems like everyone is out to copy and profit from their work. I know this happens, I've seen it happen. I recently found out that a person, whom I used to work with at a major craft magazine publisher, now appears to be knocking off another artists original design jewelry, teaching classes and writing books about it. It's damn frustrating! The solution that I see is that all of us, as a community, need to confront these rip off artists and tell them to knock it off, or to well, cut it out and stop copying other peoples work. The magazines and book publishers need to stop publishing art created by people who are copy cats. Additionally, the art retreat organizers need to stop hiring teachers who take a class one week and then turn around the next and teach the exact same techniques and curriculum, using the same exact name for the class.

No human can be everywhere and know everything, so when we find out that someone is knocking off another artist, we need to let the the art retreat organizers know, because when they do, they can cancel the class of the copycat. I know this is true because it happened just a couple months ago. If we don't speak up and support each other, the copy cats will continue to rip off other peoples work and creativity and profit from it. Art retreat organizers need to put a clause in their agreements with teachers that the material they are teaching is their original technique and that they will be publicly humiliated if it's found that they misrepresented themselves. Or, something like that.

But to get back to Pinterest, and the hurdles that it presents for artists and their intellectual property, I think that we can politely police ourselves. My policy is that if I'm pinning an image I found online, I'm responsible for adding in the name of the artist to the description or the name of the blog where I found the image (that way they're responsible, no?) if the blogger didn't say whose work it was. One would think that artists would be the first people to give credit where credit is due, but it's not happening. A very well known craft artist has pins all over her board that don't have any credit to the original artist. (She also isn't writing blogs lamenting the issue so I'll cut her a break). If I find an image that's already been pinned on Pinterest that I like, I repin it and if I'm not in a huge hurry I'll write that "if someone knows who made this, let me know and I'll happily give them credit". If we find that someone has pinned our original work without giving us credit, we can nicely let them know that we made it and thank them ever so much for admiring our work. We just gained a fan, an ambassador and a brand evangelist for life by making a personal connection with that person who loves our style and we can thank them for helping spread our work and our brand. Chances are, if a person is pinning your work, they're not planning on copying it and passing it off as their own. Or maybe they are, and I'll be writing about them in a future column.

Moving forward, protect your work by protecting your images. On Flickr, there is a way to prevent people from pinning your images by going into "Privacy and Permissions", "Global Settings", "Allow others to share your stuff". Edit these settings and Flickr won't allow users to share your work so that you have control of your images.

Whenever you need to use one of your images online, apply a watermark in a place where it can't be cropped out without hacking out part of the product. The key to using Pinterest to your advantage is in knowing how it works. The default description for each pin is the image file name. So, each time you save an image to be used online, make sure that your name or the name of your company is in the filename. That way your info will be auto-populating the description when someone comes along and wants to pin your product onto their board.

Facebook is a beast that can't easily be tamed when it comes to protecting your images. Anyone can look at your image on Facebook, copy it to their computer and use it in any way they want. Watermarking is the only way to protect your images that you'll be uploading to Facebook.

Pinterest is here to stay and we have to stay ahead of it. Knowledge is power and I'm going to share what I learn about using Pinterest with you. Pinterest is an incredible tool for your business and understanding the upsides and downsides is the key to using it effectively. I know I'm jumping into an ocean full of swirling waters and ferocious nibbling sharks with this, but let me know what you think in the comments. I'll put on my big girl pants and deal with it! :)

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

If you've seen the movie Field of Dreams, this phrase may have echoed in your head when you launched your store on Etsy. (Or was that just me?) I'm a glass half full kind of girl and when I started my Etsy shop, CalliopeStudio, I imagined that my handmade products would be snapped up as soon as I listed them. After a couple months with product listed but nothing sold, I realized that there was more to this game than merely having a unique item created for a niche market. With a degree in Business Management and a background in Online Marketing you'd think I would have applied my knowledge to promoting my products online. One issue for me is that because I'm a hermit an introvert, it's easier for me to promote someone else or their product than it is for me to blare the trumpets and shout out to the world, "Look at me!" The second issue is that when you have a "creative mind", switching over to the "business mind" can be like throwing yourself over the high jump bar in the Olympics. I was talking to my friend, the very talented photographer and artist, Alexandria LaNier, about this issue of Creative Mind vs. Business Mind and realized it's probably an issue that a lot of artists face. When the creative juices are flowing, it's natural to want to stay in that mindset and allow the creativity to feed itself. But if you're busy creating, who's minding the shop? To help my store get more exposure I've been researching tips on how to market handmade goods online and I'd like to share them with you.

Photo: www.copyblogger.com

It seems obvious that developing and growing a small business requires discipline, but unfortunately it's not a personal trait I've acquired. Merriam-Webster defines discipline as: Orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior. In order for a creative business to thrive, one needs to develop patterns of behavior that will enable them to devote time to being creative while also spending time promoting their business. To feed my longing for creative inspiration, I turn to Pinterest, one of the hottest and most addicting websites around. As they describe it: "Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

I literally spend dayshours long minutes on Pinterest, browsing and admiring other peoples pins and repinning them to my boards. My inspiration bucket overflows when I fill my boards with images of things that I find beautiful and interesting. I'm inspired by so many things, from majestic swans, and Ryan Gosling to 130 DIY ideas for using mason jars, old cereal boxes and wooden pallets. I've found out that I have a multitude of Sisters from Another Mister who share the same taste as I do and we faithfully repin (and sometimes repin again, forgetting that we already pinned it) each others beautiful and enthralling visual gems and treasures.

Photo: www.sweettmakesthree.com

Aside from being the best muse you've ever had, Pinterest can also be the best Etsy business promotion tool you ever had. According to RJMetrics Pinterest Data Analysis, of all of the pins on Pinterest, "The most popular domain was Etsy.com, which powered just over 3% of pins. Close behind was google.com, although almost all Google links point to Google Image Search, which is technically misattributed content from other 3rd party domains. Flickr (2.5%), Tumblr (1.1%), and weheartit.com (1.0%) round out the top 5, after which no domain represents more 1% of pins." This means that the website that people are pinning from most is Etsy, followed by Google and the other websites mentioned. There's an art to designing websites in order to be found in the top results in search engines such as Google and the Pinterest web team clearly knows how to use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that help Pinterest stay at the top. Pinterest is so popular and full of relevant images that when I go to Google to look up an image, very often the top results are images found on Pinterest, rather than the original website or blog that the image was pinned off of. So, what does this mean for you and your Etsy shop? Start Pinning! Add a board to your Pinterest account, name it after your Etsy Shop and include a brief and concise description of what can be found in your shop. The name of my Etsy shop is Calliope Studio, so the description of my board includes the following: "Vintage and handmade items made by me available in my Etsy shop, Calliope Studio."

Pin all of your handmade lovelies so that you can share them with the people who are following you. Chances are that one of your followers would love to have your handmade item in their home but they didn't know where to find it!I'll be adding new tips so come back and check them out and let me know if you find them helpful.Art & Love,Christine

About Me

With a passion for arts and crafts, a degree in Business Management, and a background in Online Marketing, I often find myself having a total identity crisis. I'm now involved in the wonderful world of letterpress printing and you can sometimes find me in my print studio. I love Steampunk, weddings, British Romantic Comedies, sewing and quilting, paper crafting, making jewelry, the UK Union Flag, fingerpainting, photography, rainstorms, shabby, industrial and prairie chic, unicorn hunting, pancake eating and needle felting. I love it all, no matter how crazy and broke it makes my husband. Find me on etsy in my shop CalliopeStudio: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CalliopeStudio You can also learn more by going to my blog: www.artandlovealchemy.blogspot.comCheers, Christine Barker